Strong keeps long-term goals at forefront

1of6Malcom Brown said Charlie Strong “said he was going to do something” to address Texas' discipline issues, “and he did it.”Photo: Chris Covatta / Getty Images

2of6Charlie Strong has kicked nine players off the team for violating his core values. He has suspended two others.Photo: Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press

3of6Texas coach Charlie Strong calls for a timeout during the first half of an NCAA college football game against UCLA, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, in Arlington, Texas.Photo: Tony Gutierrez, AP

4of6Coach Charlie Strong encourages his quarterback Tyrone Swoopes coming out after a series as Texas hosts BYU at Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin on September 6, 2014.Photo: For the San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN — Of all the statements Charlie Strong and his staff made this week about dismissals, values, the importance of winning and the future of Texas' football program, they got one completely, irrefutably wrong.

“Time is not on our side,” UT defensive coordinator Vance Bedford said Wednesday.

That, of course, is inaccurate. Not only is time on Strong's side, it might be one of his biggest assets.

It's become fashionable to suggest that Strong had better start winning soon, that he'd better not allow impatient fans to turn on him, that he'd better spend less time worrying about enforcing discipline and more time figuring out how to beat Oklahoma next month. These arguments miss the entire point of why he was hired in the first place.

The Longhorns chose Strong because accountability had become a foreign concept in their locker room. They chose Strong because the program had deteriorated so badly during the previous four years that it was beyond any hope of a quick fix. They chose Strong because they needed a man who could commit to a rebuilding project that might take multiple seasons to show results.

Consider this: When reviled former UT coach John Mackovic was fired, he left Mack Brown with Major Applewhite and four future Pro Bowlers (Leonard Davis, Casey Hampton, Leonard Davis and Ricky Williams). Brown bequeathed Strong a roster with only one player (defensive tackle Malcom Brown) who is sure to make All-Big 12.

Even if fans couldn't see how much time Strong needed, the administration did. The most obvious clue is in Strong's five-year contract, which contains no buyout. Even in 2017, the fourth year of Strong's deal, it will cost UT more to fire him than it ever would've had to pay to dismiss Brown, whose contract contained a relatively cheap early-termination clause. With Strong, the Longhorns committed to paying for every dime of a half-decade's work.

That's what Strong had in mind on last spring's statewide bus tour when he warned alumni that UT wasn't yet ready for the College Football Playoff. That's what he had in mind over the past eight months, when — according to records obtained by the Austin American-Statesman — he's tested his players for drugs twice as often as Brown did.

During those same eight months, he's kicked nine players off the team for violating his core values (honesty, treating women with respect, no stealing, no guns, no drugs) and suspended two others. He said all of them were told “over and over” to shape up, and that he only dismissed them after they repeatedly ignored his warnings.

Bedford was more blunt, saying Strong didn't dismiss them at all.

“Basically, you dismissed yourself,” Bedford said.

Many of those who made that choice had the talent to help UT this year. Combined in their careers, the nine departed players accounted for 1,494 rushing yards, 576 receiving yards, 28 touchdowns, 37 tackles, 23 starts and four four-star ratings from Rivals.

But if he let them slide, wouldn't he have lost credibility with the players he'll be counting on for the next three years? And if he was really losing the locker room, as one TV pundit surmised this week, wouldn't we have heard some of the remaining players complain?

“I don't feel like it is (too harsh),” quarterback Tyrone Swoopes said. “He told us what he was going to do, and he stuck with it.”

But will recruits and their parents have questions about Strong's discipline?

“I hope they do,” Bedford said. “Because I want to tell them the truth.”

And all UT's coaches need to tell that story is time. It's on their side, whether they admit it or not.

Mike Finger has worked for the Express-News since 1999, writing about the Texas Longhorns, the Big 12, the NBA and the NFL before becoming a sports columnist. He's covered 13 Spurs postseasons, six Final Fours and more than a dozen college bowl games.